Department of Fire and Emergency Services district officer Allen Gale, City of Bayswater local recovery co-ordinator Michael Worthington, Child Protection and Family Support senior district emergency services officer Jo-Anne Bennett and Bayswater Police Acting Senior Sergeant Will Withers.

VOLUNTEERS will pretend to be evacuees seeking support due to a severe storm to help agencies better prepare for significant emergencies in the City of Bayswater.

City of Bayswater and the Department for Child Protection and Family Support (DCPFS) will conduct a joint emergency training exercise called Blue Cloud at The RISE on May 25.

About 50 people will role play evacuees and attend an evacuation centre to seek welfare and support services.

Councillor Alan Radford said the City’s local emergency management committee and agencies including police and Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) will practice their capability to run a welfare evacuation centre.

“The training exercise with volunteer ‘evacuees’ will be a great learning opportunity for all participants to be better prepared if there is a significant emergency in the City of Bayswater,” he said.

DFES district officer Allen Gale said it was very important they practiced emergency response plans before a real emergency occurred.

He said emergencies could involve many aspects including road crashes, severe building damage, asbestos released through debris, injuries, evacuation of residents from aged care facilities, road closures and widespread power outage.

“All those things come together to create a complex scenario so this will be a great test for different agencies to test these post-impact arrangements,” Mr Gale said.

During a significant emergency, the DCPFS’s role is to operate emergency welfare centres and engage other agencies to provide food and support for people who need help.

Services may include a safe place to stay, ability to register that you are safe, provision of information, food and refreshments and personal support.

In the City of Bayswater, The RISE and Morley Recreation Centre have been earmarked for welfare and evacuation centres.